Spruce Home Goods, an Upstate New York country store with shops in Callicoon and Livingston Manor was founded in 2018 by Lori Grant and David Tew. The store is a wonderful expression of the partners' talents and expertise in both the culinary and home goods worlds. A gourmet grocery with a selection of beautiful, functional home goods and gifts.

"I think being a shopkeeper is one of the most joyful fulfilling experiences I have ever had.  I have never worked harder or earned less money, but it is a joyful way of life.  It’s not for everyone of course, you need to love it and at least try to cheerfully endure the less pleasant stuff. But what is better than coming into a small town and finding lots of lovely little shops and eateries where people greet you warmly and make you feel at home. Imagine now the smiles you receive in return for this kindness."

What makes Spruce Home Goods so unique? Spruce is a marriage both literally and figuratively; My husband is a trained chef, and I am a home merchant.  Spruce is a combination of our favorite gourmet grocery items merchandised with beautiful, functional home goods and gifts. There is the best Italian pasta, jar sauce and cheese sitting with beautiful pasta bowls, kitchen gadgets, serving utensils and of course linens. And you can grab a warm donut or a case of your favorite fizzy water on your way out.

Is there a story behind the shop name? Originally, we wanted to call it Callicoon Provisions, but the name was too close to another business in the community and for some reason, I could not keep the word “provisions” in my head.  One day I was in the back of a taxi headed to trade shows and saw a salon called “Spruce” on the ride and thought, that’s it, “Spruce Home Goods”.  It was simple and felt perfect for a country store. 

What are your best-selling products? Meredith cheese and hand-block printed napkins!  Truly, we have a world class cheese and charcuterie offering that we all love, my husband is British and an incredible baker, so anything out of the Spruce Kitchen is amazing from sausage rolls to Victorian sponge cake or chocolate eclairs.  On the weekend, we make a couple of batches of donuts that wafts through town and brings folks in.  For home goods, people love our home textiles sourced from around the globe as well as beautiful locally made artisan pottery, quilts, jewelry, and apothecary.  

What is the history of the Spruce Home Goods building? I believe the building was a jewelry store in the late 19th century, but before we took the space, it was a basement for the charity shop upstairs. It has an incredible blue stone foundation that my husband and a friend removed plaster from.  We opened windows that were cemented shut, pulled up decades of old linoleum to reveal wood (often decaying) floors, patched holes with copper, we used reclaimed barn wood on the walls, hung fairy lights and filled it with lovely things hoping folks didn’t look too closely!  We had no renovation budget, so we did the best we could with what we had and just leaned in. The shop has a pretty magical energy of its own that we can’t take credit for.

What inspired you to open Spruce Home Goods? We both had the opportunity to work for inspirational brands and people over our career, but always dreamed about having our own business. When we purchased our home in Callicoon, we fell in love with the area and wanted to spend as much time here as we could.  I would daydream about opening a shop with friends on the drive back and forth to our corporate day jobs. 

Our friend Robin Mailey, founder of The Callicoon Wine Merchant had a wonderful little cheese counter at his wine bar and made space for local farm flowers, eggs and fresh baguettes.  We all met at Robin’s on Friday night to make plans and pick up provisions, it was a weekend highlight. Robin decided he wanted to open a Tapas Bar adjacent to his wine shop and did not have the space to service the retail business he developed aside from the wine shop. He wanted to make sure the international cheese was still available in town and offered the business to my husband.  That was the seed for our business, generously given to us by a friend and we did our best to honor what he started and expand.

What did you do before having your own shop? David worked for some incredible talents like Alain Ducasse, Geoffrey Zakarian, Thomas Keller, Brian McNally, I also worked with some great iconic brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Anthropologie and Morgan Le Fay.  We were both fortunate to have great mentors along the way.

What are your favorite local independent businesses?

• Callicoon Wine Merchant

• Pipsqueak Country Store

• Mayer Wasner

• Country House Realty

What are your favorite shops (anywhere)?

• Myers of Keswick

• Roman and Williams Guild

• John Derian

• Stella Tribeca Home

• BDDW

• DeVol

We have not been out of the country for a while, we used to love the Paris Flea Market, Colette, Merci and Peck in Milan.

"People really enjoy the tactile and sensory experience in our shops, the vibe that forms from the music, fairy lights, a warm welcome, touching something beautiful and soft or the taste of something delicious and homemade.  We try to make everyone feel welcome and at ease, sharing about the artisan products or helping them find that special something.  We hope that this inspires folks to shop with us and other small businesses. I don’t know that everyone realizes what an incredible impact they can make with the decision to shop local and small."